Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Longing for a simpler time?

Via New York Magazine, President Obama got the year wrong when signing the guest book at Westminster Abbey.

Not to make too much of this -- I'm sure others are more than capable of that -- but it's very odd to miss by three years. One year is fairly common. I sometimes take a beat to remember not only whether it's 2010 or 2011 and, true confession, exactly how old I am (not that I'm forgetful about my age, just that, at some point, you simply don't think about it that much).

At times, of course, a person's mind simply wanders, and the polite term for this is "brain-o"

Many years ago I received an impassioned letter from a reader who was wroth about a hike in electric rates. She was passionate and eloquent, though I noticed at the top of her letter she'd written this:

To: Eric ZornRe: Commonwealth Edison Pancake House

I can't even imagine what mental gear slipped as she was composing that header. But I found it so amusing that I showed it to dozens of people, and so memorable that ever since I've take the opportunity to insert references to the Commonwealth Edison Pancake House into discussions of both Commonweath Edison and pancake houses.

Posted at 01:38:11 PM

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Compare the non-reaction of this to the front page news of Michele Bachmann mistaking New Hampshire as the location of Lexington and Concord. Perhaps Obama was thinking of a happier time, when he was winning the Democratic nomination?

I have to agree with KPO'M that had Sarah Palin said this? It WOULD be front-page news. (Add it to his screwing up the toast to the queen on the same day and Huffington Post would have a whole special page!) Dan Quayle will forever be known as the guy who couldn't spell "potatoe" (this is his misspelling), but somehow Obama gets a pass, or much of one.

Missing by three years is very strange. Methinks he's re-living the glory year.

On Politico, there are a number of posters who think he's either a)exhibiting signs of early senility or b) brain-damaged, and this is how it's coming out.

I wonder if he has written the date, especially the year since his election. I doubt the president writes checks very often himself. And there may not be much other opportunity to write the full date.

Not really an excuse, just trying to imagine what happened.

I remember reading one time that Ronald Reagan told a story about when he stopped being governor. The first time he and Nancy wanted to go somewhere, they both got in the back seat of their car. Then they realized there was no more driver for them and neither one had a drivers license anymore. Life changes when you are president and you stop doing things the rest of us take for granted everyday. I suspect writing the date might be one of them.

In Bachmann's case, it wasn't just a mental glitch or a case of having "misspoken." She simply didn't know what she was talking about--she made the same mistake more than once and mangles American history on a regular basis. This from a Tea Party leader who pretends to be channeling the spirit of the Founding Fathers (who, Bachmann also claims, "worked tirelessly until slavery was no more'').

Once again, you guys don't understand the problem with Palin. It's not that she makes little verbal gaffes. It's that she's a bona fide dimwit. Quayle got a bum rap, though. He was a victim of a Goring, by which I mean the media generated a narrative about him that bore little relationship to reality based on the flimsiest nuggets of evidence it decided to notice and distort. So, we had Quayle the Doofus and Gore the Exaggerator.

Did he go to Westminster Abbey in 2008 -- I know he went to England then. That would be my guess and something that my slightly younger husband might do. He'd be thinking about when he was there last, and what time of year, and likely (if it were my husband) pinning down the exact date or day of the week if he could.

So, you've had all that little thought and you go to write down your comparison date and the 2008 pops up.

It is funny to read all the right wing sites convinced that this is the beginning of the end for him.

It's a bit different to write a date down oddly though than to have an incorrect speech -- those remarks are usually at least mapped out a bit in advance in your head, if not fleshed out, written down, and checked over.

While I agree with JakeH that Quayle got a bum rap, "potatoe" was hardly his only or most glaring gaffe. That would probably be his regret that he didn't brush up on his Latin before going to Latin America. He also had a knack for stating the obvious such as "If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure" and "A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls".

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.